Richard J. Vogel, CEO TUI Cruises

Since the founding of the company in April 2008 Richard J. Vogel has been the chief executive of TUI Cruises GmbH, a joint venture between TUI AG and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Mr Vogel started his career in the TUI Group on 1 June 2005 as the Head of Special Projects. In this role he developed the strategy for entering the volume cruise market. Previously Richard J. Vogel was senior vice president for marketing and sales for the Aida brand, operated by the Seetours shipping line, a subsidiary of the Carnival Corporation. In 1984 Mr Vogel gained his first tourism industry experience in the club hotel sector and following a spell as managing director of ITC Club Calimera he moved to the cruise business. In 1996 he was appointed managing director of Arkona Reisen, where he played a key role in implementing the Aida club ship concept. In 1997 he also assumed responsibility for the marketing division of Arkona Touristik, the holding company for the tourism activities of the German shipping line Seetours. After Arkona Touristik took over Seetours from TUI in November 1997 Vogel also became the managing director of Seetours. Since 2000, in his position as senior vice-president at Seetours, Vogel was responsible not only for marketing and sales but also for the sectors of revenue management, pricing, tourism and services, corporate communications and brand promotion. From 1998 to 2004 Vogel was a member of the managing board of the Deutscher ReiseVerband (DRV).